Cuban leader, Raul Castro has expressed his support for granting asylum to U.S Fugitive Edward Snowden, who has fled the country after exposing sensitive information about a surveillance programme.

However, he has not offered details on a safe passage or if Cuba would offer refuge to the embattled former National Security Agency contractor.

State-run newspaper Juventud Rebelde quoted Mr. Castro as saying, “We support the sovereign right of Venezuela and all states in the region to grant asylum to those persecuted for their ideals or their struggles for democratic rights.” He was speaking to the country’s national assembly.

Although foreign media was not given access to the assembly, the session would be broadcasted in full, reports the statesman.

Latin American countries have banded together to express their interest in accommodating Snowden. Cuba’s response comes after Bolivia and Venezuela have offered their support for Snowden’s asylum. Nicaragua is also expected to do the same.

The show of support in the region trails an incident where Bolivian President Evo Morales’s presidential plane was refused entry into European airspace, forcing a lay over in Vienna before heading back to Bolivia. Morales accused the U.S of directing four Europeanan countries to block Evo's plane from entering their air space.

The fiasco was aggravated by leaders of several Latin American countries campaigning against “imperialist actions” by the U.S. Bolivia made threats to remove the U.S embassy from the country saying ‘we don’t need a U.S embassy.”

Castro said Sunday the case "shows that we live in a world in which the powerful think they can violate international law, endanger the sovereignty of states and trample the rights of citizens," reports The Associate Press.

U.S. President Barack Obama has taken a casual stand on the Snowden debacle saying that he is not going to go after a ‘29-year-old hacker.’

Despite rumours that Snowden has applied for asylum to six more countries, Wikileaks, an organisation that spills secret information, said that it would not reveal the names of these nations because of
“attempted U.S. interference."

Castro has made a sympathetic stand on Snowden because Cuba is "one of the most harassed and spied-upon nations on the planet," Fox News reported.